Leeds will be on familiar territory when they travel to Warrington for the first of the weekend's Super League semi-finals , aiming to reach a sixth Grand Final in eight years. Yet it is the Wolves who are the overwhelming favourites to earn their first appearance in a title decider at Old Trafford, even though they have never reached even this stage of the competition before.

They finished top of the table, 13 points ahead of the Rhinos, who slipped out of the top four for the first time since 2001. They have scored 82 points in beating Leeds twice this season, and chose them as their semi-final opposition under Super League's controversial Club Call system – although as the only alternative was Wigan, the reigning champions who must instead play a second derby in a fortnight against St Helens on Saturday evening, Warrington's coach, Tony Smith, made the decision with reluctance rather than relish.

Unlike all but two of his players – the props Adrian Morley and Garreth Carvell, who have each made one appearance in a Grand Final – Smith has been down this road before, having taken Leeds to three Old Trafford finales in his four years at Headingley – including their first two Super League titles – before being appointed the England coach in 2007.

He has already made a little history by becoming the first coach to win the League Leaders' Shield with two clubs, and stands on the brink of plenty more by reaching, and winning at, Old Trafford with a second set of employers. But his close knowledge of the nucleus of the Leeds team who remain from his days, and of his former assistant coach Brian McDermott, who is now in charge of the Rhinos, made him especially reluctant to be seen to have anything to do with selecting them as semi-final opponents.

"We appreciate the danger," he said, pointing to the Rhinos' run of four consecutive victories since the Challenge Cup final defeat by Wigan last month, from which they emerged with significant credit. "They've had some good results lately, and will come here confident. But we have had some good results too and we're happy with the way we're playing. It's not like we're trying to find form. We're just looking to maintain what we have done, or even improve on that."

The Wolves have had a fortnight to prepare since they thrashed Huddersfield 47-0 in the first round of the play-offs, and the return of the England forward Ben Westwood after a knee injury leaves them close to full strength, with the underrated prop Paul Wood the only significant absentee.

However, Smith admits that Westwood's availability has caused him "a few sleepless nights" this week. In his absence from the last four fixtures, the England centre Chris Bridge has relished a new role at loose-forward, and Chris Riley has seized the chance provided by the ensuing back-line reshuffles, scoring four tries in the last two games from the left wing, after impressing at full-back in the two matches before that.

But assuming Westwood and the influential full-back Brett Hodgson are fit, Riley could be squeezed out by Bridge's return to the centre, which would allow the Wolves to revert to their effective strategy of having an Australian giant, Matt King and Joel Monaghan, on each wing.

McDermott also has at least one tricky decision, with Carl Ablett's return at left centre after missing their play-off victories over Hull and Huddersfield, following a bad knock to the head, likely to lead to the omission of Ali Lauitiiti from the interchange bench, which would deny the skilful Samoan a 200th appearance for the club. But the Rhinos coach has subtly let it be known that he would rather his players had been chosen by Warrington than Leeds having had to do the choosing themselves. "That will have a bearing, no matter what I'm trying to say," he admitted.